Year in Review: Making the most of philanthropy

October 17, 2016

Adirondack Foundation has been part of the human landscape of our region for 19 years. We’ve grown and changed to meet the needs of our communities. In 2016, maintaining a tradition of self-assessment and strategic adaptation, we have refreshed our strategies and updated our mission: Adirondack Foundation strengthens our community through philanthropy.

We work in collaboration with donors and a range of partners toward shared goals through stewardship of charitable funds, personal donor services, effective grantmaking, and bringing people together to create solutions.

Increasing our charitable impact has become Adirondack Foundation’s number one priority for the next several years. The pages ahead present that work in its myriad forms. We’ll touch on just three important areas of endeavor here.

At this year’s Diversity Symposium in Newcomb, a young black man who heads the physical education department at a local summer camp shared stories of the racism he and his colleagues have encountered right here in the Adirondacks. His painful experiences underline why we have invested staff time and funding in the Adirondack Diversity Advisory Council.

Elsewhere, the shuttering of early child care programs in Essex and Franklin counties underscores the importance of the Adirondack Birth to Three Alliance. We can’t bring those programs back—at least not in the short-term—but through the BT3 Alliance, which links agencies and providers across boundaries, we are building understanding, momentum for advocacy, and capacity for obtaining funding in the future.

Giving wisely isn’t easy. It takes groundwork, research, and evaluation of opportunities. And few of us can make a major difference alone. Our answer is the Generous Acts Fund (GAF), a pool of resources contributed by people who care. For two years now, Adirondack Foundation has been able to make discretionary grants to drive positive enduring social change in our region through this Fund.

We hope to begin the celebration of our 20th birthday by building the Generous Acts Fund to $1 million. If you haven’t already invested in GAF, and even if you have, please consider making it one of your top charitable giving priorities. Together, we can build a powerful community resource.